Friday Headlines
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Understanding portraiture
18 January 2019
Girls in Year 5 are preparing to look at facial features and to develop their sketching ability in Art lessons during the next half term. A trip to the Barber Institute on 15 and 16 January therefore provided an ideal opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of portraits prior to starting.
At the gallery, Lisa, our guide introduced us to the purpose of portraits and the painting styles of different artists by studying a number of works of art. Lisa then focused on one particular portrait by Andre Derain and, with the help of the girls, acted out the story of his journey to become an artist and the style he used. The girls (as well as accompanying staff and parents) embraced the opportunity to practise their portrait drawing skills by attempting to recreate the portrait. The girls were bright and bold in their use of colour and thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
Moving forward sketching accurate features and showing a variety of shade and tone will be important. The nose, lips and eyes will be examined in detail, using demonstration and several attempts at shape, size and shade.
As the girls’ skills increase a self-portrait will be drawn from a photograph, hopefully recognisable of each pupil! This will lead to the depiction of an expression made from clay. Using a different medium and distorting their features will challenge the girls further.
The girls’ art work will be displayed in their classrooms creating an EHS gallery of our own.
Understanding portraiture
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